Prison into Prison
by NotNearlyAMuggle
Summary: Mary Smith has just been given parole from the Youth Detention center but the terms of her parole say that she must live in care. She enters her new home of Elm tree house just before the third series of Tracy Beaker Returns. how with the other Dumping Ground Kids handle living with Mary and how will she handle living with them?
1. Chapter 1: Terms of Parole

Chapter 1: Terms of Parole.

I fidgeted under the scrutiny of my new care-workers. They had introduced their selves as Mike, Gina and Tracy.

Mike was a tall, balding man with a friendly smile and his eyes screamed understanding. He was dressed in a simple t-shirt and faded jeans and he wore the look of someone who had been a care-worker for a while but still loved it. Gina was a big, black woman with a Jamaican or Caribbean accent and a "no-nonsense" air about her but she too was friendly, even while watching me. She wore a long top with a flowery pattern on it and black leggings. Tracy was short, only about a centimetre taller than me and her black hair was cut in layers just below her shoulders. She wore black jeans and a black leather jacket with a purple top underneath. Tracy looked different from the other two as well, she watched me in understanding not pity, and she didn't look at me like I was "just another care kid" she looked at me like I was a human.

"Her curfew," Kara, my social worker spoke to them, "Is seven until five. After that she can't go further than thirty metres from the house. If she does the box will sound and either I or Carrie," she nodded to my parole officer who had also accompanied me to Elm Tree House, "Will come and switch it off. She has three strikes. If she breaks them Carrie has to take her back."

"Can we stop talking as if I'm not in the room please?" I snarled at them. Both of them were business like woman and both wore skirt suits. Carrie's was black pin stripe and it was slightly baggy on her skinny body, she wore it with a white shirt and her blonde hair was scraped back from her face and pulled into a tight bun at the top of her head. Kara's suit was grey and she wore a pale pink shirt underneath it, she was much older that Carrie, who was in her early twenties, and her greying hair was down, in waves, framing her wrinkled face. "I think I can explain the "terms of my parole" to them. I'm not a two year old, nor am I going back to prison."

"You weren't in prison," Carrie lectured me for the hundredth time; "It was a youth detention centre. Prison would have been much worse."

"I was in prison," I said to her, "It was either prison or hell and it wasn't nearly red enough to be hell and there was no fire." I fiddled with the cross around my neck. Some catholic I am, I thought to myself for the millionth time. I shivered at how casually I was talking about being in hell. If my Grandma had heard me she would have slapped me, of course she doesn't want anything to do with me anyway. Poor Gran.

Kara gave me a warning glance and I smirked at her.

"She can't go out alone at any time," Kara continued like I hadn't said anything, "She can't go out in a pair either. She has to be with at least two other people, she needs a single room and has to be searched every Friday night."

"Searched?" Tracy asked looking shocked.

"Yes," Kara said, "we know it isn't your policy but she has been known to carry knives and matches..."

"Which she understands would break her parole," Carrie interrupted looking at me. I nodded and gave her a look that was meant to say: obviously. She got the message.

"I never hurt anyone," I murmured.

"She has to keep her mobile on at all times," Kara continued, "So we know who she is calling and she can add to her contacts only people that live in the house or that she has consent from you to have in her contacts." She nodded to Mike who was the head care-worker.

"Oh," I said sarcastically, "I'm sorry. I thought I'd gotten out of prison."

They ignored me.

"We'll come to check her tag and her progress once a month." Carrie said and my left ankle became heavier with the reminder of the brace that was around it. "If she goes three months without breaking curfew then we'll extend her time limit and lower her parole, if not. It stays the way it is."

"What if I urgently need to go to the shops at six o'clock and no one else can leave the house?" I asked, just for the sake of being annoying.

"Then you can wait." Carrie said sternly, "What could possibly be so urgent that you couldn't wait until the next day to buy?"

I thought about it for a second and then smirked, "tampons." I said matter-of-factly.

Tracy smirked and rolled her eyes, Gina shook her head and Mike went slightly red. Kara turned away to hide the small smile on her face and Carrie just frowned. I could have sworn I'd also heard a snigger come from the other side of the door I was leaning against.

"I'm pretty sure you will be able to find some in the house," Carrie said bluntly.

"What if there aren't any though and all the other girls are away out and it's only Mike in the house with me and the boys?" I said, making this up as I went along, "I'm not going to ask the boys to go buy me some am I?"

Kara and Carrie both sighed. "You'll just have to make sure you have lots in the house then, won't you?" Carrie said irritated.

"Don't worry," Tracy said to me, smiling, "There's always some somewhere."

I shrugged in defeat. I knew it wouldn't have worked but I had hoped a little bit.

"I think that's everything you need to know," Carrie spoke again to the care-workers as if I wasn't there, "We will be retrieving what's left of her things from her old house and sending them over soon but all of her necessities are in her rucksack." She held up the black back at her feet and handed it back to me. I took it from her and slung it over my shoulder, "Have you got any questions?" she asked the three people who would be taking care of me from now on.

"Do you have any medical or religious or dietary needs?" Mike asked me and not Carrie.

"I'm catholic," I said quietly, "I need to go to mass every Sunday. Other than that I've got no medical or dietary issues."

He smiled at me and nodded.

"Okay," Kara said to me, "We'd better go and let you get settled. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Can I call you if I need tampons?" I asked seizing the opportunity.

"I guess so," she smiled, "As long as you don't get into any more trouble, deal?"

"I won't let myself get arrested," I answered back, not entirely answering her question.

That was good enough for her and she and Carrie left the room, Carrie giving me a nod and telling me not to get into trouble. I smirked at her and told her I couldn't promise anything.

When they opened the door there was a crowd of kids of varying ages standing outside. That must have been where the snigger had come from. I put on a hard face when I stepped outside followed by the care-workers. Each of the kids had a slightly scared look on their face, I realised quickly it was because they had been listening and they knew I had been in prison. I also probably looked pretty wild; I hadn't had a shower in about two days, having been driven back and forth without much of a rest. I decided not to say anything to them, it seemed safer. I didn't want to be asked awkward questions and I was not going to be the first person to introduce myself. Carrie and Kara left the house without saying anything else. I stood there in the doorway staring straight ahead of me but I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. A boy a little taller than me, wearing a dark blue polo shirt and beige trousers had moved forward slightly. He had dark curly hair and he was carrying a notepad and a pen. He opened his mouth to speak but he lost his nerve as I watched him and stepped back again.

"Come on," Mike said from behind me, "I'll show you your room. We'll put you in Toby's old room."

I nodded, not that I knew who Toby was.

"You got your bag?" He asked again. I showed him it on my shoulder and he smiled and led me through the crowd and to the stairs.

"Come on, guys," Tracy said from behind me, "Introduce yourself or go do something!"

There was silence and I stopped where I was with my foot on the stairs. I turned my head to the group of kids. I noticed that, with the exception of one or two, I was shorter and skinnier than all of them even though I suspected I was older that most. I smirked when no one introduced themselves, though no one left.

"Why were you in prison?" the boy I had noticed earlier asked me and everyone began to mutter and watch me carefully. I noticed a small blonde boy with a toy giraffe in his hand hide behind Tracy and an older, taller guy at the back of the group who had dark hair and wore jeans and a purple adidas hoodie watched me with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Time to have a bit of fun, I thought to myself and let a sneer show on my face. I could tell by the silence that greeted my facial expression I appeared just as malicious as I'd hoped to. I looked at them all and waited another few seconds for the effect.

I opened my mouth and I smiled, "Murder." I whispered.

Everyone gasped and moved back again. All except the boy at the back who smiled at me and spoke carefully.

"She didn't murder anyone." he said and I smirked at him and raised my eyebrows, "She'd be in for life if she had and she's joking. It's obvious."

"Really?" I said sarcastically.

He nodded and everyone calmed down.

"I'm Liam," he said to me still smiling mischievously.

"Mary," I replied bluntly.

The other kids had stopped talking again and the boy with the notebook stepped forward again, "Why were you in prison, then?"

"Can't tell you that, sorry," I said and shrugged.

"But I have to know," he moaned. I looked this boy up and down. I noticed how immaculate he looked and as I fully took in the way he spoke and acted and I realised he really did have to know.

I looked at Mike who was watching me, worried. I tried to ask him for permission to tell this boy the reason with my eyes and he nodded in understanding.

"I was in for breaking and entering and vandalism of private property," I said to him and he scribbled it down on his notebook.

"What's your full name?" He asked me.

"Mary Smith," I said and a girl standing at the back of the group scoffed. She had blue through her dark hair and wore ripped denim jeans and a blue t-shirt. I glared at her, I was perfectly aware of how un-creative my name was.

"I'll see my room now, thanks, Mike," I turned to Mike and started back up the stairs ignoring all of the other kids that were looking at me.

Mike showed me to a small room that had blue walls and a multi-coloured bed cover.

"Sorry about the colours, we haven't re-decorated since the last person in this room left," Mike said to me as I put my rucksack down on the bed, "and sorry about the kids, they're normally very friendly."

But your normal care kids aren't prisoners, I thought to myself. "It's fine," I muttered, "Friendly isn't really my cup of tea."

"They'll get used to you," Mike continued smiling, "Just give them some time."

"Yeah," I said, "Thanks."

Mike left me to my own devices so I stripped the bed and replaced the colourful quilt cover and pillow cover with beige ones that Kara had brought me from my Dad's old house. I then placed out the few belongings I had. The only things I had been able to bring were things that Carrie had approved and so I had two pairs of grey jogger bottoms, a grey hoodie, two plain white t-shirts, a pale, yellow, Sunday dress and a pale top and grey shorts to use as pyjamas. I had the usual underwear and a few "everyday" toiletries too. She had also allowed me to bring three books from my Dad's and a picture of my dad, my gran and me from a few years ago. In the picture we were standing in front of a fighter jet and my dad was in his military uniform with a small smile on his face, his arms wrapped around me on one side and Gran on the other. His blonde hair stuck out at odd angles and his blue eyes were sad. He was bent over so that he fit in the picture with us. My gran, on my dad's left, was wearing the green dress she always wore to church with her lime green shawl and matching sun-hat and hand bag. Gran's grey hair, like her son's stuck out at different angles no matter how much she had tried to cover it with that awful hat. She was skinny and angular her cheekbones protruded from her face in a very obvious manner that wasn't helped by the bright red blusher she had always used. Her face was scowling as usual but her eyes weren't a stern as usual, they were sad and proud. I was oblivious to the sorrow surrounding everyone else, I was quite a bit older now than I was in that picture but I had hardly changed, I'd grown only a couple of inches and though my body had developed since then I was still just as skinny as I was in that picture. My hair was white-blonde in the photo and it fell to my waist a lot neater than my dad's and Gran's, it didn't anymore. It had darkened in the time that had passed and was now a dirty blonde colour and it was cut short, like a boy's, in a pixie cut. The photo showed me wearing a pink blazer and blue jeans which I remember having to hold up on my hips with rope because they were too big for me. I was smiling and looking up at my dad with wide eyes. All I knew was that my dad was going to protect me from far away. I didn't realise all of the other dangers he faced.

A knock on my door woke me from me trance. I placed the picture down on the bedside table, walked to the door and opened it.

The boy with the notepad stood there at the door. He started talking as soon as the door swung open.

"I'm giving you a tour," notepad boy said, "It starts in four minutes. I need you downstairs in four minutes." he turned to leave.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

He turned back to me. "Gus Carmichael."

"Okay, Gus," I said, "Show me where we've to start the tour." I smiled at him, glad to have someone who wasn't intimidated by me.

I don't understand how you could be intimidated me. I'm short and I'm skinny. Looking at me you would think there is no way I'd hurt anyone, that's part of the reason they let me out on parole before the end of my sentence.

I shut the door behind me as I stepped into the hall. He set off down the stairs. He led me to the kitchen where some of the kids were sitting. Including the tiny blonde boy with the giraffe and the girl that had made fun of my name. Mike and Gina were also in the kitchen and they both looked surprised to see me come down with Gus.

"The tour starts in one minute," Gus informed me as he sat down at the table, sitting down was pointless as I knew he would have to get up in a minute anyway but I joined him. "You can't talk on the tour." he continued.

"That would be rude," I agreed with him smiling.

"It would," he said looking slightly surprised.

"Can I take notes incase I have questions at the end?" I asked him, knowing it would make him happy if I did and ignoring the shocked looks I could feel myself getting from everyone else, "And so I remember what you tell me."

"Yes," he said giving me a suspicious look, "There's a spare notepad and pen in that drawer." he pointed to a drawer behind the breakfast bar.

I stood up from my seat and walked over to the drawer, opened it and removed the pad and pen which were sitting on the top. I continued ignoring the looks I was getting. Gina and Mike looked pretty surprised and the small boy with the giraffe still looked quite nervous of me as he hid behind Gina. The girl with the blue in her hair was smirking but she looked like she was trying to hide surprise, the other two people in the room were a boy that I'd seen standing beside Liam earlier, he'd seemed nervous then but now he was smiling. It was clear he had some sort of physical disability. The other was a very anxious looking boy taller than me by a few inches, with dark hair. He looked like he was good friends with the blue haired girl.

I smiled at the smiling boy and stood beside Gus as he said to me:

"The tour starts now."


	2. dinner, classics and a little hustling

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that subscribed and reviewed! You definitely helped me to upload quicker than I usually would. I really hope you like this chapter and a few of my personal feelings towards certain characters may shine through but I hope I've portrayed them fairly enough. Also, Carmen and Lily will be introduced in the next few chapters I'm not forgetting about them. **

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Chapter 2: Dinner, classics and a little hustling.

Gus' tour was incredibly helpful, as were the notes I'd thought to take. Not only did I manage to sketch out a little map of each floor, I managed to get the names of each kid in the "dumping ground". I couldn't yet match names with faces but I could guess a few: the boy that hung around with Liam, his name was Frank, the girl in the blue that smirked at me, her name's Electra (somehow I doubted that was her real name) the small blonde boy's name is Harry and his giraffe is called Jeff.

Gus finished his tour where he'd started it, in the kitchen and just as I'd promised I hadn't talked during his tour, though I had felt the urge to many times. In the kitchen Tracy was cooking something that didn't look appetising, at all. I groaned to myself hoping this wasn't what I got to eat all of the time. At the table were the boy I'd seen earlier in the kitchen with a small blonde girl, she was even smaller than me. I realised that they must be Jonny and Tee. Gus had said there was a brother and sister living there. Harry and Jeff were also at the table as was girl who hadn't been there before, she was dark skinned and her hair was equally dark and very frizzy. She was showing Harry a set of paints that she had bought and she was showing him how to hold a paintbrush properly.

They all looked up as Gus and I entered the room.

"Finished your tour?" Tracy asked smiling.

"Yes," Gus answered for me, not looking up from scribbling in his notebook, "and Mary didn't talk once during it."

Tracy laughed and Gus gave her a blank look as though what he'd said wasn't meant to be funny.

"Well," Tracy said still smiling but not laughing, "Did you make sure you answered her questions afterwards?"

"I don't have any," I butted in not wanting to start an argument on my first day.

"Well, do you want to help me with the dinner, Mary?" Tracy asked, understanding that I wanted a change of subject.

"Um..." I didn't particularly, I didn't want to be blamed for her bad cooking, "I can't, sorry." she raised her eyebrows, "I'm not allowed I handle knives or be near fire. If I was to help cook I'd be doing both of those things." I shrugged and grinned. I was proud of my excuse.

"Well," Tracy said, not giving up, "You can help Tee and Jonny set the table for dinner."

The small blonde girl and her brother flicked their heads round. Jonny gave me a warning look as if to keep me away from his sister, Tee gave me a small smile but she looked nervous. I smiled at them, trying not to be sarcastic to Jonny.

"Why do we have to do it?" Jonny asked, or moaned.

"Because you're here and Mary needs someone to show her where everything is," Tracy said and I rolled my eyes.

"Why can't Saph and Harry do it?" Tee said even though she looked a lot less reluctant. Saph must be the dark skinned girl with the paint set.

"Because Sapphire might not even be staying for dinner and she and Harry have paints to put away," Tracy said.

"I don't live here Beaker," Sapphire said, "You can't boss me around."

"No," Tracy said, "But I can tell Harry to put them away which wouldn't be fair on him, since they're your paints."

"Hate to be nosey," I smirked, "But if you don't live here, why are you here?"

"I used to live here and I like to come back and see Harry," Saph smirked back, "Don't I, Harry?" she packed away her paints while talking and didn't even look up to talk to me.

"Yup," Harry said, "Jeff likes it when you come back to see him too." Harry spoke quietly and he hid slightly behind Sapphire, never letting go of his giraffe.

"And I like coming back to see Jeff," Sapphire smiled as she put her paints in a black rucksack on the window ledge. "And I'd rather not have to eat your cooking Beaker, I'll get something later."

"Right," Tracy said and then she hurried Jonny, Tee and me to set plates, cups and cutlery out on the table. We set twelve places.

Tee was nice, she was nervous around me but she was nice. She smiled and she showed me where things were when I asked and she didn't seem like she wanted to hate me. That was a start. Jonny, however, never spoke to me, he scowled and I could see I made him nervous. I made no attempt to be nice to him. I didn't have time for people who made no effort to like me.

Tracy served up dinner and shouted everyone in as I prepared for my first meal at Elm Tree. I waited until everyone I seated in their normal seats before I squeezed into the only gap, between Gus and Liam. I looked around the table and I more or less matched every face with a name.

They were all silent and they were all looking at me (not Tracy, Mike and Gina though) I picked up my knife and fork, said a silent grace and started eating. I was not going to be the first to talk.

Everyone else slowly began to eat too.

"So, Mary," Mike began, "What do you like to do in your spare time?"

"I don't have any spare time," I said quickly without looking up.

Liam smirked beside me and I smiled a little.

"If you did? When you did?" I could hear the raised eyebrows in Mike's voice.

"I liked to play football," I said not looking up, "I went to the cinema, I watched TV, and I ran." I was taking rubbish now. I had been to the cinema twice in my whole life and I had never owned a TV. I only ever ran away from things that frightened me, but they didn't need to know that.

"What team do you support?" Liam asked straight away.

"Celtic," I smiled and raised my head.

"Celtic?" He asked disbelievingly.

"I'm Scottish. Give us a break!" I shot back quickly. "We're a good team."

"Celtic or Scotland?" He said, "Because Scotland are awful!"

"Yeah," I said defeated, "they are."

Everyone was looking again and my head fell back down again, I felt very self-conscious.

"Jeff says you sound like Toby," Harry said to me from where he sat at the other end of the table, pointing to his giraffe.

"Does he?" I asked raising my eyebrows. "Was Toby from Scotland too?"

"Yes you do," Harry nodded thoughtfully," but Jeff says he doesn't know where he was from."

"Well," I smiled, "If he sounded like me he was probably Scottish."

"Jeff also says he thinks you're scary," Harry said quietly.

I paused before replying, "Why does Jeff think that?"

"You went to jail," Harry said matter-of-factly, "he says only bad people go to jail."

"Well what do you think?" I asked him softly, "do you think I'm a bad person?"

Harry looked confused that I'd asked him and not Jeff, "Only bad people go to jail." He repeated.

"Okay," I nodded solemnly; clearly it was going to be difficult to fit in here.

It was silent again.

Nobody talked until all of the plates were empty and I didn't look up from mine. Tracy lifted my plate from in front of me and she started handing out chores, she said I was free to go because I'd laid the table. I thanked her; in all honesty her food hasn't been that bad. Better than prison food.

I left the table and made my way back to my room.

I sat down on my bed and picked up the books I had unpacked earlier. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights? Really? Out of all of the books in that house, Carrie had brought me those three? I loved the classic novels but her giving me them as my only reading material other than the bible was cruel. Even by her standards.

I lifted the small, cheap mobile they had given me before getting here and opened a new message to Kara, I wrote this:

"HELP! SOME CRAZY WOMAN EXPECTS ME TO LIVE ON THREE CLASSIC NOVELS FOR THE REST OF MY EXISTENCE! YOUR HELP WOULD BE VERY USEFUL!"

I sent the message but opened Pride and Prejudice anyway. I had barely read two sentences when the phone buzzed beside me. I opened Kara's reply which read.

"I think you have a problem with your capital letters. Fear not. Help will be there tomorrow."

I smiled,

"THANKS. :)" I replied.

She didn't text back and so I continued reading until I was interrupted by a knock at my door. I stood up and placed the book down, using my pillow to hold the book open at the right page. I wandered over to my door to see Liam standing there grinning. I raised my eyebrows.

"We're starting a new game of snooker downstairs if you're up for it?" He said.

"I can't play snooker," I lied.

"That's fine," he laughed, a low, happy, chuckle, "You can play Jonny. You can't be worse than him."

I smiled but let it fall, "Why are you, Gus and Tee the only ones that are talking to me?" I asked him straight up.

He became a little awkward, "Well, Gus is Gus. He sort of talks to anyone. Tee can't see the bad in people. I've been in jail, well, I've been arrested, just wanted to give you a chance. Besides, you're tiny and pretty young. You couldn't hurt me if you tried." He smirked.

"I'm fifteen," I said and his confident face faltered.

"No you're not." He said disbelievingly.

"Yes, I am." I argued.

"No way!" He laughed again.

"Okay so I'm like four foot," I said, self-conscious that he was laughing, "Get over it."

"Sorry," he said straight faced, "Seriously though, you couldn't hurt me if you tried."

"Sounds like a challenge," I smirked.

"Not quite." He said, "I'd rather you didn't try to hurt me."

"You should have thought about that before!" I jeered.

"I'm terrified," Liam said sarcastically.

I laughed.

"Okay," I sighed, "I'll come play snooker. Hold on, I need to find a bookmark."

I moved back into my room and Liam followed me, this bothered me a little but I let it go. I looked for something to use as a bookmark, instead of the pillow but I couldn't find anything. Liam offered his assistance, which I denied but he gave me anyway. We both looked everywhere but couldn't find anything.

"I can't believe there isn't one piece of paper, anywhere that I could use as a bookmark." I moaned as I slumped back onto my bed.

"Why are you reading Pride and Prejudice?" Liam asked, picking up the book but being sure to keep a finger between the right pages.

"I like it," I said not wanting him to know I had no choice in my reading material.

"Right," he said, obviously not believing me.

"I do!" I said.

"I didn't say you didn't!" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Fine," I muttered.

"Fine." He mocked.

"Fine." I snapped sarcastically.

"Fine." He smiled.

"Fine." I smiled back.

We sat there in silence for a few seconds.

"Who's that in the picture?" Liam asked pointing to the photograph I'd places on the bedside table earlier.

"Me," I said.

"Well obviously!" He said and rolled his eyes, "I mean with you."

"Doesn't matter," I muttered no wanting to tell a boy I'd just met all about my family. Fair enough we were going to be living in the same house but I wasn't sharing everything, "weren't we going to play snooker?" I avoided looking at him.

"Sure," Liam agreed, "But don't expect your secrets to be a secret for very long in this place. Everyone knows everything. Trust me."

"Thanks for the heads up," I smirked, "snooker?"

"Fine." He smiled.

I laughed and headed out of my room (after putting my book back with the pillow as a makeshift bookmark.) We made our way down the stairs making easy conversation. Liam led me into the "quiet room" where most of the kids were playing their various games, in their various groups. Liam kept talking to me, which I was grateful for, as we walked to the back of the room to the snooker table.

Frank was waiting on us with two snooker cues in his hand.

"We're playing teams Frank." Liam stated and Frank nodded and smiled at me.

"I'm Frank," he said to me, his voice was slurred due to his disability but I understood him easily.

"Really?" I smirked, "I'd never have guessed!"

Both Liam and Frank laughed and I realised everyone else in the room was silent. I put my hands in my pockets and put my chin to my chest again, as if that would make people stop looking at me. Liam noticed.

"Jonny?" He said, "You're playing right?"

Jonny looked up from where he was sitting: on the edge of the couch having clearly been pushed there by Elektra. He looked cautious and gave Liam a death glare. Liam laughed.

"Oh, you're scared you'll get beaten by a girl, right?" Liam smirked.

"No!" Jonny denied.

"So why won't you play?" Liam challenged.

"I never said I wouldn't play..." Jonny started.

"Good," Liam said grinning, "You're with Frank."

"What?" Frank moaned, "Why do I have to be with him? He's awful."

I laughed.

"Don't worry," I smiled, "I don't even know how to play." I was sticking to my original lie figuring that since Liam just tricked Jonny into playing he wouldn't mind a little bit of hustling.

Jonny slowly made his way over to us, everyone was still watching and I would have given anything for pockets big enough to hide in at that moment.

"Liam," I said really quietly so that no one but him could hear.

"Yes?" He said equally quietly.

"I actually do know how to play," I said.

"I know," he muttered a slight smile in his voice, "Follow my lead."

"Will do." I said, glad that he was fine with lying. I guessed prison hadn't changed me at all really.

**A/N: hope you enjoyed my story, anything you want to see happen? Or want me to improve on? Do you like it so far? Please tell me in a review, or pm me?**

**Thanks, Cora.**


	3. Chapter 3:Evidence

**A/N: thanks you so much to anyone who reviewed my last chapter. I hope you like this one and review it too. **

**In case you haven't noticed I'm not the best at updating and I don't really have a particular schedule so if you could subscribe to my story I'd really like it. Thank you and enjoy… or don't, either way please leave a review at the end…**

Chapter 3: Evidence.

"You cheated!" Jonny screamed.

I looked at Liam in worry and he laughed.

"Stop being such a drama queen Jonny," Liam said, "We didn't cheat, we hustled."

"Still, I'm not giving you any money!" Jonny shouted.

"We won, Jonny." Liam said, "fair and square."

"You aren't getting my money." He continued shouting.

"Frank doesn't seem to have a problem," I stated quietly.

In fact, Frank was grinning at both me and Liam.

"You guys can have your money from me," he said, clearly pleased, "you played a good game."

I smiled, "I know."

Liam and Frank both laughed, which just made Jonny even angrier. Tee came over at that moment and put her hand on Jonny's arm. She tugged him away, giving me a look of annoyance as she left.

"Great!" I muttered, "Another person that hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," Frank assured me.

"She just likes to take her brother's side," Liam continued, "And we did trick him."

"I guess so." I laughed. I felt a little bad for Jonny, it was my first day, after all and he'd already been beaten by me.

After playing another game of snooker with Liam and Frank I headed back up to my room, I was exhausted. I slipped on my pyjamas and practically collapsed into bed.

I fell asleep straight away; the thought of sleeping somewhere that I wasn't used to didn't frighten me or put me off. In fact, it felt quite familiar. Prison had prepared me for sleeping in a bed I didn't classify as "mine", this one however was more comfortable. As always the bliss that I received as I first fell asleep didn't stay for long.

In the dream I was in a court room that felt far too familiar, I squirmed in the uncomfortable wooden chair I was seated in and attempted to make myself look taller than I was. I sat at a table next to a man with no hair and a briefcase, Thomas McDonald, worst lawyer in the whole of Scotland. He was defending me. I had no chance.

The owner of the warehouse I had "vandalised" was giving his version of the events that night. Unfortunately, his version of events was the true version. I didn't get why they needed his verdict, I was pleading guilty. I knew I was going to jail I was just trying to shorten my sentence.

"Miss Smith?" The judge spoke to me his voice echoing all around me, "Is what this man is saying true?"

I looked around; I could see my Gran's disappointed face at the back of the court room. Sat beside her, in his uniform, staring straight ahead, was my dad. His face was stern and I could see that he was finding it hard to keep his "Captain face" on, his usual mask had cracks in it and his eyes betrayed how disappointed and embarrassed he truly felt. I pushed the tears from my eyes and turned away from my father's face. As I turned though, I blinked and suddenly every face in the room was my dad's, he glared down at me from the judge's podium, he stared at me disappointed from under my grandmother's strange hat and he avoided my gaze as he sat beside me as my lawer.

My dad in the judge's seat stared down at me and he spoke calmly. "Is this man's recollection of the events true?" he asked.

I hesitated, looked at my dad as the witness and then nodded. "Yes sir."

"Very well," he said in my dad's voice. My heart felt like it would split in half. "Miss Mary Elizabeth Smith, due to already having two previous warnings about misconduct, I hearby sentence you to two years in the juvenile detention centre, with chances of parole after eighteen months."

Everything went black and the only thing I could see was my dad's disappointed face. I started hearing something though. A voice shouting my name. A woman. I was being shaken.

My eyes opened and I looked directly into Tracy's. There were tears on my face, I could feel them but I'd stopped crying as soon as my eyes had opened. I didn't cry when I was awake. There was a crowd of people outside of my room, the kids. Each of them looked at me with a different emotion upon their face. I liked none of them from Harry's nervous eyes to Elekra's arrogant smirk they all made me feel weak and stupid.

"Go back to bed!" Gina was telling them, as expected, none of them moved. Liam and Tee were at the front of the group along with a dark skinned girl, wearing pink fluffy pyjamas and Frank. Liam caught my eye, his face showed only concern. I shook my head in shame, silently praying he wouldn't say anything to me. He understood.

"Come on guys!" He said, "She isn't going to disappear. Ask her about it tomorrow." I hoped they wouldn't.

They looked at him, all of them and one by one they started moving. Tee and Frank were the last to leave, I smiled at them. Frank put his hand on Tee's shoulder and tugged her away silently.

Tracy and Gina sat down either side of my bed. They both opened their mouths to speak but closed them again.

"You were screaming," Tracy said quietly. I nodded but didn't say anything. "Do you normally scream?"

"I don't know," I said even quieter than she had, "They didn't tell me if I screamed in prison."

"But you do normally have nightmares?" Gina asked me, her accent soothing me.

"Not nightmares," I corrected, "as in plural, just one, a single nightmare."

"About what?" Tracy asked curiously and helpfully, "Sometimes I think it helps if you can tell someone about your nightmare. It always helped me, when I was in care, to tell Mike."

"You were in care?" I asked. It sort of made sense, the way Sapphire had talked to her earlier and the way she looked at us like we were just normal people.

"Not just any care," She said calmly, "I was brought up right here in the Dumping ground."

I took a deep breath. I didn't really want to tell them, I'd only just met them and even Kara didn't know about my nightmare. I decided against telling them, no matter what Tracy said I wasn't one to share my most personal thoughts and feelings with people I hardly knew.

"I don't want to tell anyone," I said calmly, "I'm sure I'll get over it. No one even noticed when I was under lock and key." I smirked at them.

"Okay," Gina said, "Just remember to come and get one of us if you ever need to talk."

"I'm sure once the kids get to know you a little better they'll be willing to listen too," Tracy said.

"I'm sure." I said sarcastically, "I doubt they'll get to know me anytime soon."

"They're just a little bit distant at the moment because you were introduced slightly different than we had hoped for." Gina assured me.

"Yeah," I said, "I'm sure it would have been much better telling them that I was in jail while singing campfire songs and drinking hot chocolate."

"Well," Tracy smiled, "introducing yourself as a murderer didn't help much did it?"

"I was joking." I moaned, "Besides what kind of name is Mary Smith for a murderer?"

"Point taken," Tracy smiled and dropped the subject.

"You okay to go back to sleep now?" Gina asked me.

"Yeah," I smiled gratefully, "I'll be fine. If I scream again just put a pillow over my head or something, I won't mind."

They both nodded and left my room.

I lay there for a while, not fully awake but not completely asleep. Left alone in an unknown room, with few personal belongings and very little light was like being back in jail. Aside from the comfortable bed everything felt the same. There was that horrible nauseous feeling that hit me anytime I thought about falling asleep and having that same dream again. I'd never admit it but when I woke to find everyone around me and at my door as well as feeling slightly claustrophobic I was mortified. I couldn't believe my 'tough girl' image had been shattered in two minutes due to one tiny figment of my imagination that refused to leave my head.

When the first rays of sun started creeping under the curtains I looked at my phone and decided it a suitable time to get up. I made my bed, out of habit and worry that Kara wouldn't give me my books if the room wasn't tidy (which I knew was stupid but, when you have to ask to pee for two years of your life, worry about these types of things is something that doesn't leave.) I decided to throw the grey hoodie on over the 'pyjamas' I had been left with and made my way downstairs, careful to be quiet as I went.

I made my way to the sitting room and sat down on the couch with my feet tucked up beside me. I couldn't have been there long when I felt another person sit down beside me. It was Mike.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked.

"It's difficult to sleep in a new place," I answered with a smile.

"Agreed," he smiled back, "You'll be okay, soon enough."

"So everyone keeps telling me." I said quietly.

"You miss your family?" He asked.

"I guess," I shrugged, "There was only really the three of us, Dad, Gran and I, it had been a while, before all the drama that I saw my dad and my Gran hardly knew I was there most of the time. I probably miss them more than they miss me, that fact makes me miss them less. Besides, it's been two years since I got sentenced, I've gotten over it."

"I don't think you ever get over missing something," Mike said truthfully, "it just lessens a little at times."

"I suppose," I said quietly.

"Tracy told me about last night," he said cautiously.

"And?..." I prompted him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, "She said you have the same dream quite often."

"There's barely a night I don't have it," I admitted, "sometimes it's not as bad but last night, being in a new place and everything, it was awful."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." He said smiling. There was a pause before he started another conversation. "Do you want something to eat? A cup of tea?"

This was something new to me.

Even before jail I had had set meal times, set things to eat and I'd never been allowed to chose whether I wanted to eat or not. I suppose my dad and my gran had liked that feeling of routine and it had just carried on to me.

I contemplated how to answer.

"Okay," I said then, thinking that sounded rude I changed my wording, "yes, please."

Mike smiled and stood up. I followed him into the kitchen where he put on some toast for me and put the kettle on to boil.

"Gus will be downstairs in a few minutes," Mike said, "the others come down in whatever order they like, usually with Liam and Carmen last."

"Will Gus be annoyed that I'm down before him?" I asked, worried that I'd ruined the routine.

"No," Mike assured me, "he has to come down at a certain time but he doesn't necessarily have to be first."

"Okay, good." I sighed.

"I've been meaning to ask you about Gus," Mike said, "how did you know how to handle him?"

I smiled sadly. I knew what he meant, last night I knew exactly how to deal with Gus. "My gran was like him," I admitted, "She needed things to he a certain way, she didn't like changes or differences. She liked things to be orderly and she liked things to be done her way. I lived alone with my gran most of the time too so I was left to look after her and she had dementia."

"That wasn't in your file," Mike said confused.

"Course it wasn't," I muttered, "they didn't want the army's star boy having a bad mark to his name, a mother with issues who was being taken care of by his fifteen year old daughter wasn't something they wanted on file. Unfortunately I ruined Dad's clean slate when I got sent to jail."

"Surely afterwards they did a background check though," Mike said, "they should have put it in your file."

"They did a background check alright," I spat angrily, "when I was under lock and key and my dad was back in town. 'Nothing to worry about at home',was what it said, 'just an unstable child'."

"Il have that looked into," Mike said almost to himself.

Luckily Gus entered the kitchen at that point and the discussion about my family problems were brought to an end. Gus was already dressed, in the same clothes as the day before. I felt silly sitting here in my makeshift pyjamas.

"Hi Gus," I smiled at him.

"You had a nightmare." He stated getting straight to the point which in my eyes was a very likeable quality.

"Yes?" I said hoping there would be more.

"You were screaming for four and a half minutes and you started crying after two minutes of screaming." Gus continued.

"Really?" I asked slightly amused but I kept a straight face.

"Tee asked if you were going to be alright six times and Tracy replied 'she's tough' six times." Gus was reading all of this from a notebook, the same as the one I had seen him with yesterday.

"Do you always have a notebook Gus?" I asked, changing the subject. I felt slightly awkward when other people started being described at that scene last night.

"Yes." Gus replied.

"Why?" I asked him curiously.

"So that I never miss anything," Gus explained matter-of-factly, "and there is always evidence."

"Evidence?" I asked.

"Yes," Gus said, "Like yesterday, when you arrived and people were listening at the door and then you went upstairs and Gina asked who's idea it was to spy and Liam took the blame but it was Jonny who originally said 'We should listen to see who she is, she looks like a...'"

"...Okay Gus," Mike interrupted, "I think Mary's heard enough."

"No." I said, incredibly curious about what Jonny had had to say about me before I'd spoken to anyone. "What did Jonny say Gus?"

Gus sighed and read from his notebook, "He said: 'we should listen to see who she is, she looks like a right state. Has she never heard of a shower?" then Liam hit him and Tee told Liam to cut it out and Electra said that Jonny was right and that 'we should listen in case she planned on killing everyone.'"

I felt my face going bright red with anger. How dare they? No wonder my sarcastic comment about being a murderer had put most of them on edge, they'd already suggested I was one. I stood up from where I was sitting and shouted a thanks to Gus as I made my way to Jonny's room to show him what a state I really could be.

**A/N: hope you enjoyed it!**

**PLEEEEAASE review!**

**Thanks,**

**Cora.**


	4. Chapter 4: Repulsively Unpleasant

**A/N: As you may have noticed, updating is not my strong point. I apologise for the wait but I really hope you enjoy this chapter because I made you wait a long time, again, sorry for that. So… yeah, here you go.**

Chapter 4: repulsively unpleasant.

"Get up!" I snarled at a tired Jonny.

He was lying in his bed with his covers pulled up to his neck. He looked at me with a mixture of shock and fear in his eyes.

"Why?" Jonny questioned me.

"Get up!" I snarled.

He swung his legs out of the bed and stood up. I'd forgotten since the previous day how much taller he was than me but it didn't bother me. I could still be just as intimidating.

"What have I done?" Jonny asked.

"You were the one who decided to have everyone listen at the door when I came here, right?" I said smirking.

"Yeah," Jonny admitted, "So? Everyone would have found out you were in jail eventually."

"Listen," I started, "don't you ever judge me or anyone based on what they look like. I believe the words that you used were 'she looks a right state, has she even heard of a shower?' I could have based all my opinions of you when I walked out of that office. I could have based all of my opinions on the fact that you are clearly too clean to be a normal teenage boy but not clean enough to have a proper condition, on the fact that you were smirking at Elektra because you clearly want to be whatever she classes as "cool." I could base every opinion of you on the slightly dim kid that stood there, trying to look cooler than he was and attempting to be a good big brother to Tee, who, in fact is more mature than you, just like she got the better looking genes, clearly. But I didn't base my opinion of you on that, you know why?"

"No." Jonny muttered, his face now a pale shade of green.

"Because people have been doing it to me my whole life. I was always the tiny girl that everyone thought they could take advantage of," I snarled at him, "I was always the one without the money to buy nice clothes. It wasn't my original observations that made me completely hate you Jonny, it was everything after that too. So you better watch because I'm not scared of jail and I am most certainly not intimidated by you, I've met intimidating people and compared to them you're about as intimidating as a new born Chihuahua."

Jonny stumbled back a little when I grinned and left his room. I'd lied. There was no way that I was going back to jail because of a stupid kid like Jonny. I knew I'd scared him though and the satisfaction I had gotten from looking at his face was enough to put a small smile on my face.

"Mary?" It was Mike, he was standing next to me. He'd come up the stairs behind me, it was clear on his face that he'd heard every word I'd spoken to Jonny.

"Mike?" I sighed.

"Was that really necessary?" Mike asked and I shrugged.

"No." I admitted, "probably not."

"You're not going to apologise though, are you?" Mike guessed.

"Absolutely not." I said. "He's the biggot, he can apologise."

Mike sighed, "Here's the thing about Elm Tree House. You're going to be living with everyone in here for an uncertified amount of time so making threats like that, on your second day is probably not a good idea."

"I'm not apologising but I'll keep my distance, I guess." I lied comfortably. Those sorts of promises were the ones I'd been making since I was wee, they were the ones that no one ever kept.

"Remember," Mike said in a tone that obviously meant he was about to issue a warning. I knew what was coming, or at least I'd thought I knew what was coming. He was going to lecture me about my three strikes, Carrie and Kara had moaned at me for hours on end yesterday. "You're one of the oldest kids in here," I felt my eyes widen in surprise, I hadn't expected Mike to start with that. "The younger kids will follow your lead so try and set a good example."

"Don't think my friend here," I signalled my ankle brace by shaking my leg in front of me "helps make much of a good example."

"Believe me they'll forget about that "friend" of yours and then they will look up to you." Mike said a knowing look on his face.

"I'll try to be better," I gave in, "okay? I can't promise anything though."

"I'm not asking you to," Mike smiled, "I'm just saying think of all the younger ones, what kind of place do you think this will be to live in if they all go around threatening people?"

I understood. I'd always looked up at the older kids than me, even when they did wrong. I nodded at Mike to show I understood and he smiled and made his way back downstairs. I followed the hallway back to my room and checked my phone. I didn't know why, it wasn't like I was going to have any messages. All I had was a missed call from Kara.

I texted her:

"You called?..."

I sat the phone down on my bedside table and looked out clothes for today and the toiletries Carrie had left me with. The phone buzzed.

"Carrie's bringing extra clothes and books later." Kara's text read.

I groaned, why did it have to be Carrie? I didn't text back I knew she would realise it was because she'd sent Carrie.

I picked up my clothes, toiletries and, on my way past the cupboard, a towel. I also slipped a hair-bobble that was lying in front of Elektra's room around my wrist. I made my way to the bathroom that Gus had shown me yesterday on his tour.

I locked the bathroom door and as I had planned I wrapped the hair-bobble from my wrist around the handle and then around the lock. The bobble prevented the door being unlocked from the outside.

I turned on the shower and I smiled in excitement. I hadn't had a proper shower since the day of my court case. In prison I got a five minute shower every two days and only got to wash my hair once a week. I undressed and climbed in the shower. For a while I just stood there and let the water fall on me. It took me until my body closely resembled a prune to actually wash my body and my hair.

I rinsed off the final soapy bubbles and with regret I turned off the water. I clambered out of the shower, dried my body quickly and slipped into the clean clothes I had brought with me into the bathroom. My hair was a bigger problem. Even though it was short it still took a while to dry and I could feel the water from it dripping down my back. I decided just to dry it as best I could with my towel and hope it dried quickly. I folded the clothes I had taken off and the towel I had used placed them in a pile along with the toiletries and picked them up into my arms.

As I left the bathroom I noticed a small note blu-taked to the door. I slipped it on to my pile of clothes and took everything into my room. I put the pile at the end of my bed neatly and looked at the note.

In a neat scribble were the words:

Parole officer downstairs with "reading material"

Tracy.

I ran down the stairs gracefully to see Carrie loitering in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hand. She was being awkwardly questioned by Gus, not awkward for Gus of course, just for Carrie, I stood outside, out of sight just to listen because I quite enjoyed seeing Carrie being interigated.

"Do you have children?" Gus was asking her. I noticed that Harry, Tee and Jonny were up. Harry was siting at the table with Jeff. I smiled at him but he turned away nervously. Tee and Jonny were deep in conversation at the table but looked up as I came in, Jonny giving me his harshest glare at which I just smirked and Tee giving me a tiny smile. I nodded at her smiling back slightly.

"No," Carrie replied sternly to Gus. Then addressed me, "you asked for better reading material?"

"Yeah," I said smirking, "the classics are great and all but I'd have liked some more modern books."

"Like what?" She asked.

"Any of the other books that were on my bookshelf at home." I said, trying my hardest to keep the irritation I was feeling out of my voice.

"Well," Carrie said harshly, "as you know, we're having difficulty getting access to your grandmother's home. So I brought some of the ones that you asked Kara for when you were in the detention centre."

"You should have started with that last bit." I muttered. "It would have saved me an unpleasant conversation."

"Mary, please mind your manners," Carrie snapped at me, "I have something else to say to you, concerning your father."

That got my attention. I felt my face go pale.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have an incredible talent for making unpleasant conversations completely repulsive?" I asked.

"Mind your manners Mary! Your father is a great man; you should try and be a little bit more like him." Carrie lectured.

"Right, well as soon as that starts to happen can you send me back to prison to make sure no one has to put up with me?" I muttered, scowling.

"Carrie glared at me in irritation, I'd had this argument with her far too many times for my liking and I was glad she was learning that she was always going to lose.

"Well, you said you had something of the upmost importance that you had to tell me about Saint Smith, right? Can we do it somewhere a little more private?" I smirked, "I've only been here a day there's some things I'd like to keep to myself, for now."

"Sometimes Mary," Carrie began, fuming, you could practically see the steam coming out of her ears,"I wonder what I did to deserve being made to look after you."

"You don't look after me, you look after my freedom," I smirked, "And you could have had worse than me. Mind that kid that kept loosening the screws in your chair?"

"That was you," Carrie glowered.

"Oh yeah. So it was. I knew I'd liked her."

"Mr Milligan," Carrie said, bored of fighting with me, "Is there somewhere we could go privately?"

Mike showed us into the office and closed the door behind us but I held up my hand to keep them quiet. I opened the door again and sure enough Jonny, Tee and Harry were standing around it. I glared at them.

I didn't need to say anything else, they left.

My heart was racing, I hadn't seen or heard from my dad since that day in court that I dream about. I'd referred to him earlier as "the army's star boy" and I wasn't exaggerating. My dad was an excellent soldier and he was admired by everyone, even the judge had complimented him before the case, I was proud that he was such a good soldier but he was by no means faultless, like most people seemed to think.

My dad left me and my gran to look after ourselves. He didn't even try to defend me or support me in court, nor did he visit me once while I was locked up. When I was younger I used to look up to my dad but as it went a long I noticed how distant he got with us. He stopped coming back to visit as much as he used to and eventually I stopped wanting him to. My gran was more hopeful than me but I suppose she had to be, he's her son, and she didn't realise quite how long he left us alone.

"Continue," I muttered to Carrie.

"Right, well," she began trying to decide where to begin, "your dad, he's obviously been very busy overseas so he's not had time to come and visit you." I resisted the urge to smirk and kept a straight face. "But he's back here for a couple of weeks and as you are not yet sixteen and you are technically still in his care he needs to come here to sign some papers."

I took that in. I hadn't seen my dad in about two years and now he was coming here, admittedly he wasn't here to see me but he was still coming here. I couldn't believe Carrie had the cheek to say that I was in his care. I hadn't really been in his care since before he joined the forces.

"When's he coming?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Sunday," Carrie answered sharply, "he'll be here just after you get back from mass. I think he's looking forward to seeing you."

This time I couldn't keep the smirk from my face, "I'm sure he is. He hasn't seen his baby girl out of cuffs since I was ten, that's the only times he ever came back to see me: To get me released from police custody or to watch me be sentenced." I laughed, "If he was so looking forward to seeing me he should have come see me when I was locked up. It's not like I was going anywhere!"

"Mary keep your voice down," Carrie warned, I hadn't realised that I was shouting.

"Right." I muttered. "Fine, he's coming. Doesn't mean I have to see him."

"Mary," Carrie said, "I'll be here too so you'll need to come and see him."

"I already got let out of prison!" I shouted at Carrie, my anger taking over. I couldn't believe they were going to make me see my dad. "My punishment was meant to be over!" I continued making a move to leave.

"Just because you throw a strop like a four year old does not mean that you get out of seeing him." Carrie snarled at me.

I opened the door to the office in anger and shouted behind me, "I didn't think it would!"

I ran up the stairs. I noticed that the plastic bag of books that Carrie had brought for me had been placed outside my room. I picked it up and put it on my bed. Inside as well as six books there was a small note. It was from Kara I could tell because she always wrote in capitals.

The note had a single word on it:

Sorry.

Not good enough Kara. She chickened out of coming to tell me, that makes her lower in my "bad books", than Carrie, at the moment.

There was a knock at my door. I ignored it but whoever was on the other side of the door was persistent. I stood up and opened it slightly.

It was Liam, in his pyjamas; Frank was on his left, also in his pyjamas.

"Mornin'!" Liam beamed.

"Hi." I answered and rolled my eyes. "Hi Frank."

"How are you?" Frank said.

"You mean after my breakdown last night?" I asked smirking, "or my breakdown this morning?"

"You had a breakdown this morning too?" Liam grinned, and sarcastically added, "And we thought you were good having been in jail and all that."

"Yeah, yeah," I smiled, "I'm a messed up kid, yous were bound to find out at some point."

"Ewes?" Frank asked confused.

"Yes, yous." I laughed and added a small explanation, "Glasgow thing, I know the word is "you" but... you know… old habits die hard."

"Anyway," Liam said, "Frank asked how you were?"

"I'm fine," I said and rolled my eyes, "just a bit shaken up."

"Care to tell us what happened?" Liam asked, he looked genuinely curious.

"Nope." I said, "I just met you. Maybe later though."

"Okay," Frank smiled, ignoring Liam's protests, "We were going to go out in like ten minutes, you want to come?"

"We'll be back before your curfew," Liam added, "we thought you might like to get out of here for a while."

I considered their offer, I hadn't been "out" in a long time. I would be, more or less, free to do whatever I liked.

"Yeah," I answered, slightly smiling, "Alright, if Mike says I can, then I'll come."

"Excellent." Liam beamed.

**A/N: I realised I promised Lily and Carmen but I'm just getting started, there may be more next chapter… I don't really know yet. Please review and favourite and stuff… it makes me really happy when you do. Thanks. I'll attempt to update quicker this time. It'll hopefully be the beginning of August when I update so look forward to it if you like.**

**Thanks, **

**Cora. **


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